High Court dismisses conviction and sentence appeals after appellants handed victim over to angry community members in 2019.
The High Court in Mahikeng has upheld the life sentences for two women convicted of murder after they helped abduct a man accused of theft and delivered him to a mob that killed him in Setlagole in 2019.
Mathapelo Victoria Seichoko, 51, and Khantso Rosina Tlhalatsi, 60, lost their automatic appeal against both their convictions and sentences on 12 January 2026.
Acting Judge Tebogo Juta Maodi ruled that the court a quo did not err in finding them guilty under the common-purpose provisions.
Abduction and assault
The incident occurred on 6 January 2019 when the appellants, along with co-accused and three boys, went to Madibogo to fetch Thabang Kabili, the deceased, who was accused of stealing items.
Mbanyana Mothibinyana, the deceased’s girlfriend, testified that the group arrived at her home around 11am.
“They said they came to fetch the [man accused of theft] to Setlagole, as he had left some stuff and had wronged them or done something wrong to them. They were in a fighting mood,” she told the court.
When Kabili tried to escape through a window, three boys chased and caught him. Mothibinyana testified that Seichoko, who was driving, assaulted the man when he refused to get into the vehicle.
“The first appellant was fighting with the [man accused of theft] because [he] did not want to climb into the car. The first appellant assaulted [him] with her hands and pushed him into the car,” according to court records.
As they departed with Kabili, Tlhalatsi was ululating, according to testimony.
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Police officer’s role in vigilante action
Seichoko, a police sergeant since 2007, admitted under cross-examination that she knew “members of society who are tired of crime can take the law into their own hands.”
Despite this knowledge and the deceased’s bleeding injuries, she did not deliver him to a police station.
The court heard that upon returning to Setlagole, Seichoko stopped between her parents’ house and her husband’s house, where a crowd had gathered.
She testified she told Kabili “that as the goods were recovered, there was no need to lay criminal charges against him” before leaving him with community members.
Around 5pm on the day in question, Seichoko received a call that Kabili and another victim had returned to her husband’s house with injuries.
By the time she arrived, community members were present with the deceased lying on the ground. Kabili died from injuries sustained during the community assault.
Common purpose conviction
The appellants had argued that the trial court erred by proceeding without assessors and by correcting its judgment from a conviction under section 51(2) to section 51(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which deals with common purpose.
However, Maodi found no irregularity. “The wording of the proviso is clear and unambiguous concerning the composition of the court, and the accused’s entitlement to formally ask that the trial proceed with or without assessors,” the judgment stated.
On the judgment correction, the court noted both appellants’ legal representatives “indicated that they were fine with the amendment” and “there was no objection.”
Tlhalatsi admitted during cross-examination that “by going to Madibogo, it was to make sure they catch the deceased. By surrounding the house, it was to make sure the deceased does not escape.”
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Sentence appeal rejected
The appellants argued for reduced sentences on the basis of personal circumstances, including Seichoko’s care for five minor children and an ill husband, while Tlhalatsi was a 60-year-old pensioner. Both were first-time offenders.
Maodi rejected these arguments, finding “no substantial and compelling circumstances” to warrant intervention.
“The totality of evidence must be measured, not in isolation, but by assessing properly whether, in the light of the inherent strengths, weaknesses, probabilities and improbabilities on both sides, the balance weighs so heavily in favour of the state that any reasonable doubt about the accused’s guilt is excluded,” the judgment stated.
The court dismissed the appeal against both conviction and sentence.
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